KC of Altoona had watched her grandfather suffer from Alzheimer's disease. She felt helpless when he was injured in an accident at his care facility. As she sat next to his hospital bed before he passed away, she questioned her choice to attend nursing school. Could she become a nurse? Could she face others' struggles at the end of life?

She shared her doubts and grief with her grandfather's caregiver Melonie Weiss, a registered nurse in inpatient Neuroscience/Pediatrics/Trauma at Mayo Clinic Health System in Eau Claire. "She was so comforting and reassuring to me," KC writes in nominating Weiss for the DAISY Award for Exceptional Nurses.

"She told me it was a pleasure and honor for her to be a part of my grandfather's passing and end-of-life care. She said it takes compassion to be a nurse and that just by me being present and the show of love I had for my grandfather, that someday I will be an amazing nurse.

"Melonie was so kind to all of us, especially my mother who was his guardian and closest child, and I could never thank her enough for her sincere, heartfelt condolences. I will never forget that talk she had with me, holding my hand and assuring me that being a nurse is exactly where I need to be. She touched my heart forever."

Weiss emphasizes the privilege she feels to help families and patients at end of life. "I always bring up the Lion King.' It really is a circle of life,'" Weiss says.

Earning the DAISY Award was "an incredible experience," she says, made more special by an appearance by her three children at the surprise ceremony. For Weiss, who recently returned to nursing after 20 years of teaching preschool and raising her own children, the award confirms that "older nurses bring something to the table."

KC, for one, sees Weiss as a role model: "I told Melonie, I hope someday I can be half the nurse you are.'"